Arunima Singh wrote:

jabeen wrote:

Happy holi to all!! I can still remember the fun I had in my childhood, applying colours to my friends. But nowadays I prefer to stay away from colours. By the way, its celebrated for 5 days in Imphal, mostly organising sports in day time and cultural events at evening

That is such a different way of celebrating. I never knew it. I wonder why media never covered it. A unique way of celebrating holi in this diverse country. Thanks for sharing.

I think that is because Holi as a festival is more renowned as it is celebrated in North India and so coverage is given to festivities in the North or the way it is celebrated. In Maharashtra, we celebrate Rangpanchami on which day colours are used. The night before Holi, which is the full moon day - Purnima, a large bonfire is made with cow dung cakes and branches of Mandar as well as castor oil trees. Offerings of Puran poli and coconut are offered to the fire and the ashes from this are used the next day on Holi. Holi is played only with these ashes, this is called Dhulwad or Dhulivandan. The ashes are supposed to be good for the skin and supposed to protect us from various illnesses caused by severe heat during summer. The bonfire is also supposed to burn off all that is evil and wicked and to cleanse the minds of the society as a whole.

But sadly now, the bonfires are lit using wood, plastic and what not.

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Arunima Singh wrote:

jabeen wrote:

Happy holi to all!! I can still remember the fun I had in my childhood, applying colours to my friends. But nowadays I prefer to stay away from colours. By the way, its celebrated for 5 days in Imphal, mostly organising sports in day time and cultural events at evening

That is such a different way of celebrating. I never knew it. I wonder why media never covered it. A unique way of celebrating holi in this diverse country. Thanks for sharing.

I think that is because Holi as a festival is more renowned as it is celebrated in North India and so coverage is given to festivities in the North or the way it is celebrated. In Maharashtra, we celebrate Rangpanchami on which day colours are used. The night before Holi, which is the full moon day - Purnima, a large bonfire is made with cow dung cakes and branches of Mandar as well as castor oil trees. Offerings of Puran poli and coconut are offered to the fire and the ashes from this are used the next day on Holi. Holi is played only with these ashes, this is called Dhulwad or Dhulivandan. The ashes are supposed to be good for the skin and supposed to protect us from various illnesses caused by severe heat during summer. The bonfire is also supposed to burn off all that is evil and wicked and to cleanse the minds of the society as a whole.

But sadly now, the bonfires are lit using wood, plastic and what not.

I think all our festivals and the way we celebrated it had so much of significance and purpose. All had a mythological, social, spiritual and not to forget a scientific purpose. We celebrated the goodness of humanity, the togetherness of our community and showed our reverence to Nature. All this has lost it's significance and we have to reduced everything to commercialization and just for fun sake. So sad the good cow dung cakes, coconut, Mandar branches and castor oil are replaced by harmful wood, plastics etc..

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Arunima Singh wrote:

jabeen wrote:

Happy holi to all!! I can still remember the fun I had in my childhood, applying colours to my friends. But nowadays I prefer to stay away from colours. By the way, its celebrated for 5 days in Imphal, mostly organising sports in day time and cultural events at evening

That is such a different way of celebrating. I never knew it. I wonder why media never covered it. A unique way of celebrating holi in this diverse country. Thanks for sharing.

I think that is because Holi as a festival is more renowned as it is celebrated in North India and so coverage is given to festivities in the North or the way it is celebrated. In Maharashtra, we celebrate Rangpanchami on which day colours are used. The night before Holi, which is the full moon day - Purnima, a large bonfire is made with cow dung cakes and branches of Mandar as well as castor oil trees. Offerings of Puran poli and coconut are offered to the fire and the ashes from this are used the next day on Holi. Holi is played only with these ashes, this is called Dhulwad or Dhulivandan. The ashes are supposed to be good for the skin and supposed to protect us from various illnesses caused by severe heat during summer. The bonfire is also supposed to burn off all that is evil and wicked and to cleanse the minds of the society as a whole.

But sadly now, the bonfires are lit using wood, plastic and what not.

Very interesting. Castor are known for their anti fungal and anti bacterial properties. That may be the reason why the ashes are considered to be good for skin. By the way, if holi is played only with the ashes, then it must be a big bonfire!!

jabeen wrote:

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Arunima Singh wrote:

jabeen wrote:

Happy holi to all!! I can still remember the fun I had in my childhood, applying colours to my friends. But nowadays I prefer to stay away from colours. By the way, its celebrated for 5 days in Imphal, mostly organising sports in day time and cultural events at evening

That is such a different way of celebrating. I never knew it. I wonder why media never covered it. A unique way of celebrating holi in this diverse country. Thanks for sharing.

I think that is because Holi as a festival is more renowned as it is celebrated in North India and so coverage is given to festivities in the North or the way it is celebrated. In Maharashtra, we celebrate Rangpanchami on which day colours are used. The night before Holi, which is the full moon day - Purnima, a large bonfire is made with cow dung cakes and branches of Mandar as well as castor oil trees. Offerings of Puran poli and coconut are offered to the fire and the ashes from this are used the next day on Holi. Holi is played only with these ashes, this is called Dhulwad or Dhulivandan. The ashes are supposed to be good for the skin and supposed to protect us from various illnesses caused by severe heat during summer. The bonfire is also supposed to burn off all that is evil and wicked and to cleanse the minds of the society as a whole.

But sadly now, the bonfires are lit using wood, plastic and what not.

Very interesting. Castor are known for their anti fungal and anti bacterial properties. That may be the reason why the ashes are considered to be good for skin. By the way, if holi is played only with the ashes, then it must be a big bonfire!!

Yes Jabeen, the ashes were supposed to be very good for the skin and for cooling the body, it was more like preparing yourself to withstand severe heat of the summer. We do play Rangpanchami here which is a few days after holi but it is now becoming quite rare. Earlier, only Gulal made naturally was used which is now replaced with harmful China products.

The bonfire is also quite large and is elaborately created by first cleaning the ground, spraying it with water, decorating with Rangoli etc. Earlier, each family had their own small fires, but now large fires are made with many families together, but it is also becoming rare now. I had a picture I clicked but am unable to find it now!

Holi is celebrated in different ways in different places but basics are same. In North India Holi is associated with farmers. Farmers pray for hood harvest while the others pray to Fire of God "The Agni Dev" midest chanting of mantras. Later they hug each other applying dry colors on the forehead. We have found natural Gulal made of Arrowroot, starch powder mixed with sandal powder or Turmeric.  Personally I have stopped playing Holi for a long time but go to meet my close friends and relatives in the evening.

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